Here we are with yet another exploratory look at the currency markets. Did the British pound put in a good performance last week, or did things go in another direction entirely?
An overview of the currency markets for September 21st – September 25th 2015
Here we go with a fresh week of trading, and to begin with the British pound was worth 1.5646 against the US dollar. However we didn’t get the start we would have liked. By Tuesday evening the pound stood at 1.5443, having lost over two cents in two days. After that we wondered how the remainder of the week would pan out. Unfortunately things went from bad to worse. We didn’t manage to notch up any improvements at all. By Friday night the pound was stalled on just 1.5176, losing a total of 0.047 cents all in all.
The question now was whether we could manage to do any better against the euro, or whether the losses there would be just as bad. The opening rate here was 1.3702 but we put in a reasonable performance on day one, rising to 1.3806. Did this bode well for the remainder of the week? The next day revealed more good news, taking the pound to 1.3844. However by Thursday night the pound had sunk to 1.3537 against the euro, so once again we were on the ropes, so to speak. At least we managed to recoup some of the losses by closing time on Friday, taking the pound to a still-disappointing 1.3610 as a result.
Over in Hong Kong the pound began trading on 12.126. Yet here too the early signs were not encouraging. Indeed, by Tuesday evening, two days of trading had taken the pound down to 11.968. As the week went on it became obvious that the pound was going to mirror its poor performance against the US dollar here as well. By Friday evening a poor week was at its end, and the pound was worth just 11.761 against the Hong Kong currency. This equated to a total loss of 0.365.
Moving on, let’s see whether the pound could achieve anything better against the New Zealand dollar. We opened here on 2.4257 and the first two days were very good indeed. We managed to rise to 2.4525 by Tuesday evening. This at least gave us a cushion for the first couple of days. Unfortunately we needed it – otherwise the losses resulting from the last three days could have been even worse. Despite the appreciable cushion we had in place by Tuesday night, we then endured three days of losses that dropped us back to 2.3923 by Friday evening.
Finally then, we have the Australian dollar to look at. Our opening rate here was 2.1525 and we mirrored the performance against the New Zealand dollar by having two good days to start with. This took us to 2.1780 by Tuesday evening. We then dropped to 2.1670 on Wednesday, soared to 2.1858 on Thursday and unfortunately fell back to 2.1633 on Friday. At least we managed to finish up better than we’d started out.
Notable events in the world of currency
Another fall, this time against the Canadian dollar
From a starting point of 2.0383, the pound managed to lose a little ground by dropping to 2.0204 against the Canadian dollar.
More bad news against the Swiss franc
The pound was clearly not having a good week, as it fell from 1.4953 to 1.4864 against the Swiss franc.
Another fall against the Icelandic krona too
It was more bad news than good for the pound, as it dropped from 196.532 to 195.035 last week.
So we can see the British pound had an uphill struggle to achieve anything of note last week. Perhaps we can hope for better to come – after all, surely things couldn’t get any worse than this? We shall have to wait and see how things turn out next week, to determine whether we have good or bad news to impart.